SAA passenger robbed… while the plane’s in the air

Unbelievable right? Well, there’s a ‘mile-high’ syndicate responsible for nicking around R6.5 million in stolen goods in the last nine months…

Where do they even go once the job’s done? Anyway, so there’s this syndicate operating on board flights to Asian destinations that’s causing quite a bit of trouble and the Hong Kong police recently published information about criminal activities on board flights in the area.

For about five years now criminal activity in the air has more than doubled and the latest victim is SAA passenger Warren Becker, who was robbed on board SAA flight 286 between Johannesburg and Hong Kong on December 21.

Becker reportedly dozed off during the flight and when he woke up the passenger next to him told him to check his bags, as he saw some people digging through them in the toilet – why would you let other people take someone else’s bags while the person’s sleeping?

“When I checked my bag, which was locked for extra security, I found the lock broken and foreign currency as well as some extremely valuable jewellery had been stolen”.

Becker said that about R30 000 was stolen from his bag in Dollars and Pounds Sterling… they didn’t bother stealing the Rands.

“They left all the South African Rands as well as my camera, as if to make it look like nothing was taken,” he told Traveller24.

Now, you’d think that a space as controlled and contained as an aeroplane would be an easy place to keep an eye on crime, but the South China Morning posts reports that these thieves primarily focus on cash, jewellery and smartphones; objects you can conceal pretty easily.

As soon as the flight landed in Hong Kong a search of the plane was conducted, but nothing found. Becker told Traveller24 that he believes there were more than one or two thieves working together, making it difficult for the cops to catch the perp.

Becker has yet to hear anything from SAA, after reporting the incident to them.

“I have emailed SAA between 15-20 times,” he says. “I have not heard back from them once.”